One phrase I desire to retain from the fifth week of Teaching with Technology is the description of personal learning communities as “passion communities”. Hearing the word passion in its description makes me want to join one and experience such a community. Our students participate in these online learning communities to collaborate, create, and solve problems through engaging activities.
Several videos this week, discussed an area of technology that I have little experience with: gaming. The presentations prove that the innovation and creativity our youth are producing through these environments and communities are incredible. James Paul Gee, from Arizona State University states that video games are actually an “assessment of problem solving” with constant feedback. The top level of the community maintains high standards without lowering standards for novice users.
I agree that our profession has been “de-professionalized” since it has taken away our creativity and flexibility in the classrooms. We have been made to do curriculum and many times use scripted lessons to keep teaching equitable in schools. Our professional development trainings in past years had teachers learning to teach according to a set mode and then duplicating teachers to all perform as robots in the schools. This type of teaching and learning was great in the Industrial Revolution and mimicked the factory mindset. But today, we find that model is not fit for the Digital Generation and change must take place in the 21st century. The steady emergence of technologies makes it difficult to evaluate student achievement, so very little data is available today. Thankfully, we have many technology educators who are passionate and dedicated in promoting this change, me included. It's a mission and we are winning the battle, don't you think?
One phrase I desire to retain from the fifth week of Teaching with Technology is the description of personal learning communities as “passion communities”. Hearing the word passion in its description makes me want to join one and experience such a community. Our students participate in these online learning communities to collaborate, create, and solve problems through engaging activities.
Several videos this week, discussed an area of technology that I have little experience with: gaming. The presentations prove that the innovation and creativity our youth are producing through these environments and communities are incredible. James Paul Gee, from Arizona State University states that video games are actually an “assessment of problem solving” with constant feedback. The top level of the community maintains high standards without lowering standards for novice users.
I agree that our profession has been “de-professionalized” since it has taken away our creativity and flexibility in the classrooms. We have been made to do curriculum and many times use scripted lessons to keep teaching equitable in schools. Our professional development trainings in past years had teachers learning to teach according to a set mode and then duplicating teachers to all perform as robots in the schools. This type of teaching and learning was great in the Industrial Revolution and mimicked the factory mindset. But today, we find that model is not fit for the Digital Generation and change must take place in the 21st century. The steady emergence of technologies makes it difficult to evaluate student achievement, so very little data is available today. Thankfully, we have many technology educators who are passionate and dedicated in promoting this change, me included. It's a mission and we are winning the battle, don't you think?